Pu’er Coffee

 You bought beans with a great reputation — so why does your coffee taste off when you brew it at home? Don’t blame the beans first. Most likely the problem is in the brewing steps. Drip-bag coffee looks simple — just pour boiling water, right? There’s a lot more to it. Those drips that come out creamy and smooth with bright fruit or nutty notes weren’t made by chance. Here are four of the most common brewing mistakes, each with practical fixes. Follow them and your next drip-bag brew will taste noticeably better. Mistake 1: Judging water temperature by feel? Boiling water kills the flavor Pouring boiling water straight onto the grounds is a common habit. You might think hotter water brings out more flavor, but the result is often bitter, burnt-tasting coffee that feels harsh on the throat. That’s not the beans’ fault — the high temperature is extracting the “bad” compounds. There are two key groups of compounds in coffee grounds: one group contains the aromatic and fruity/aci...

 Cold brew, as the name suggests, is coffee made with cold water at low temperatures. The most common method is to soak ground coffee in room-temperature water, refrigerate it, and wait for the cold water to slowly pull out the flavors. After steeping, simply filter out the grounds and you’re done. But here’s something fun: cold brew doesn’t have to be made with room-temperature water. You can actually make it with ice water —a mix of ice cubes and water brewed together with the coffee grounds. The big question is: Does it taste better? Two Ways to Make Cold Brew For this comparison, I made two batches of cold brew—one with room-temperature water and one with ice water. I kept all other variables as consistent as possible so I could really taste the difference. 1. Room-Temperature Cold Brew I used my Colombian “Big Belly Button” beans, measured out 20g, and ground them to a coarse, sugar-like texture. Using a 20-mesh sieve, the grind had an 80% pass rate. (For reference: EK43s...

 Has your morning coffee turned into a routine? You pick up the cup almost without thinking — same flavor, same rhythm. Today, let’s shake things up with 8 hidden ways to enjoy your coffee differently. With just a few simple tweaks, you can unlock a completely new experience and fall in love with your cup all over again. 1. Sea Salt Caramel Latte Surprise! A tiny pinch of sea salt can completely transform your latte. Add a bit of sea salt and caramel sauce to your freshly brewed coffee, stir well, then pour in frothed milk. The slight saltiness balances the caramel’s sweetness perfectly, creating a layered flavor that feels like sipping the morning sun by the sea. Pro tip: Add coffee and caramel sauce first, then sea salt, and milk last — this order helps the flavors blend seamlessly. 2. Coconut Cloud Cold Brew You don’t need to visit a café to enjoy this viral favorite. Fill a glass about 70% with cold brew coffee. In another cup, mix coconut milk with a little cream and fr...

 Sometimes you might just want a small cup of coffee—maybe for a special blend, or simply to enjoy a few sips without going all in. Every now and then, friends tell me they want to “brew a small cup using just a few grams of beans.” But if you’ve actually tried it, you’ll probably agree: brewing a good cup with a small dose of coffee is much harder than brewing with a regular amount. Just recently, a friend told me he tried making coffee with only 5 grams of beans, but no matter what he did, it just didn’t taste right. The flavor and body were completely different from what he’d get using a normal dose. So, why is it so hard to brew coffee with such a small amount of beans? The short answer: the smaller the dose, the more brewing challenges you’ll run into. Why Small-Dose Brewing Is Tricky In a previous post, I mentioned that each dripper design has its own “sweet spot” for optimal coffee dose. For example, the Hario V60 01 dripper works best with about 10–20 grams of coffee, ...